Need a Breakthrough in 2010?
Whenever Aladdin wanted a wish fulfilled, he rubbed a magic lamp to invoke the genie. You? What do you have? I'll tell you what you have. You ALSO have a genie, but yours is virtual. No need to rub. Just click.
But before you do, you'll need to bring a challenge, opportunity, or problem to mind. Then frame it as a question beginning with the words "How can I?" Something you REALLY want to see manifest in 2010 -- whether it's business or personal.
Once you have your "How can I?" question, click here. And if you like what happens with our online Genie, you can order the offline genie, here. Or license it for your intranet.
And while you're at it, check out my book on the art and science of manifesting new ideas.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 04:54 PM | Comments (0)
December 25, 2009One More Difference Between Men and Women
Since the beginning of time, pundits, psychologists, and philosophers have been waxing poetic about the differences between men and women.
Many well-researched theories and observations have been postulated -- everything from variations of XY chromosomes to moon cycles to shopping habits.
Though I am not a pundit, psychologist, or philosopher, I would like to take this moment to propose yet another difference between the sexes -- something I've been noticing for years, but never completely understood until this morning's opening of Christmas presents:
1. Men and women wrap presents completely differently.
Presents wrapped by women look really good. The edges are square. The tape is in all the right places. There are no unnecessary wrinkles, crunched up paper, or rips. The presents women wrap could easily be photographed for a catalog or Good Housekeeping centerfold.
Presents wrapped by men are usually a joke. Asymmetrical. Random. Pitifully sophomoric. Like an old pair of sweat pants stuffed into a drawer a little too quickly before the dinner guests arrive.
2. Men and women open presents completely differently.
Women look for the seams and the tape and use their tapered fingers in mysteriously delicate ways so the wrapping can be flawlessly removed, flattened, folded, and used again in the future.
Men are huns. They rip. They tear. They plunder the paper as if it was a small village needing to be taken over immediately.
The remains of the wrapping, no matter how beautifully conceived by the giver, ends up in a balled-up heap of chaos on the floor -- unusable for anything but kindling or throwing at other males across the room.
NEXT WEEK: Nail care
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 04:19 PM | Comments (1)
December 23, 2009PricewaterClaus
"Necessity," it is said, "is the mother of invention."
It is.
But it is also the father, aunt, uncle, grandmother, cousin, and in-laws. Indeed, for most of us, unless there is a proverbial fire under our proverbial butt, we remain victims of the status quo. Objects at rest. Bumps on a log.
Allow me to be more specific.
The year was 1998. Although the U.S economy was in good shape, my business was flabby. The pipeline was clogged. The marketing plan was a mess. And our cash flow wasn't...
Semi-fearless leader that I was, I bought some muffins and called a meeting. It took us all of 20 minutes to realize we had three choices if we wanted to stay in business: cut costs, find new clients, or reinvigorate old clients.
Cutting costs wasn't an option. Costs were already cut. Finding new clients sounded good, but it also sounded like a lot of work. Reinvigorating old relationships, on the other hand, had a nice ring to it.
We decided to focus on local clients -- companies no more than two hours away. Singapore was out. New York City was in.
Being in the creativity business, we knew we'd have to walk the talk. Besides, Christmas was only two weeks away.
And so we decided to practice one of our own techniques and look at our challenge through the eyes of another, in this case -- Santa Claus. "How would he approach a major cash flow crunch?" we asked ourselves. "What would Santa do?"
The answer -- in an on-Dasher-on-Prancer-on-Vixen sort of way -- was obvious. Santa would take to the road. He'd visit people! He'd give out gifts!
The costume rentals cost us $300. I was Santa. Elizabeth was Mrs. Claus. Val was Rudolf. And Tiffany was the Chief Elf.
Our plan was simple.
We'd drive to Manhattan and pay surprise visits to three of our high flying ex-clients: MTV Networks, Met Life, and Pricewaterhouse. Once past security, we'd give away presents (that included our marketing materials) and get recipients to promise not to open them until Christmas morning.
Fast forward three hours...
There we are, the four of us in full Christmas regalia, standing in the tastefully appointed and very marble lobby of Pricewaterhouse. Behind the imposing front desk sat three large security guards, none of them named Prancer.
"I'd... er... uh... like to speak to Donna Chandler," I said, trying my best to channel my inner Santa.
Clearly, the security guard was not in the holiday spirit. His belly did not shake like a bowl full of jelly.
"And who shall I say wants to see Ms. Chandler?" the guard replied with a scowl.
I said nothing, hoping my long white beard and general joviality would be enough to grant us access.
It wasn't.
"Don't you recognize me, my friend?" I exclaimed. "It's me, Santa!"
"I'll need your real name, sir," the guard replied.
"My real name? It's Santa. Santa... Claus."
He shook his head and said something under his breath to the equally oversized security guard sitting next to him. Scroogily, he paged his way through a company directory and dialed the phone.
"Hello," I heard him say. "This is lobby security. There's a guy here to see you. He's dressed up liked Santa Claus and won't give me his name."
Other people came and went. Other people were given name badges. Other people walked merrily to the bank of elevators.
The four of us just stood there.
And then, quite unceremoniously, the large security guard with no visions of sugar plums dancing in his head called us forward.
"OK, Santa," he grumbled. "You and your little buddies can go up."
Yahoo!
The moment we got off the elevator, on the 27th floor, everyone flooded out of their offices. Everyone wanted to see us. These weren't auditors at a Big Six accounting firm. These weren't MBAs or tax geeks. These were big kids in business clothes.
Three very cheerful women led us to their office. Boldly, they sat me down in an overpriced executive chair and, one by one, sat in my lap.
"Have you been good little girls," I said on cue.
"Oh YES, Santa!" they giggled.
"And what do you good little girls want for Christmas?" I asked.
"Better cash flow, Santa. Promotions. Vacations. And a cappuccino machine in the lounge."
I reached into my bag and pulled out a beautifully wrapped gift for each of them.
"Will you promise Santa not to open your presents until Christmas morning?" I said.
"Oh yes, Santa!" they exclaimed.
And then, with a shake of some strategically placed jingle bells, we were off.
On Dasher! On Rudolf! On Cash Flow!
Out of the office, we turned right at the fire drill sign, went down 27 floors to the tastefully appointed lobby and skipped out the door to our next former client, spreading Christmas cheer and marketing materials, ho ho hoping like children the night before Christmas, dreaming of clients dreaming of first quarter results and calling us the first day back on the job after the holidays...
Guess what? They did.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
1. What can you do differently this week to get a huge result?
2. What boundary is it time to cross?
3. Who else is willing to join forces with you to take a risk?
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:19 AM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2009Two Wolves
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.
"One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
"The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:28 PM | Comments (1)
December 19, 2009A Peek Into the Future
OK. Go get a cup of tea, coffee, wine, goat milk, brandy, or whatever your favorite libation is and watch this 5-minute video shown at Sony's Rome conference last year. It's a very mind-opening peek into the present... and the future. The implications? Something for you to noodle on...
Thanks to Alan Roettinger for the link.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:40 AM | Comments (1)
December 18, 2009A Sign of the Times
I've been doing some fascinating research lately on the origins of common objects in our lives -- things we see daily, but often take for granted.
Like the Stop Sign, for example.
Most people think the Stop Sign was created to regulate traffic. Not true.
According to Dr. Ellison Burke of the Global Institute for Cross-Cultural Studies, the origin of the Stop Sign has nothing to do with traffic -- and dates back several thousand years.
Historical references to the Stop Sign have been noted in more than 27 civilizations, most notably Babylonia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Sumeria, Crete, Rome, and the Han Dynasty.
According to social scientists, each of these civilizations experienced one or more periods of rapid growth now referred to in the literature as "Societal Acceleration Syndrome" -- the way in which daily transactions speed up in proportion to a civilization's escalating Gross National Product.
In other words, speed has become one of the most statistically predicable indicators of a civilization's development and, as I will get to later in this posting, eventual decline.
My research doesn't end here, however.
In each of the above-mentioned civilizations, there have always been a small, but vocal, group of citizens who -- concerned about the quickening pace of daily life -- have warned about this phenomenon.
Indeed, a joint longitudinal study conducted by the American Archeological Institute and the Asian Society for World Growth, has revealed that this "small, but highly committed group of citizens" has made repeated efforts to diffuse their respective society's "escalating addiction to velocity."
In Sumeria, for example, a fringe group of philosophers and poets routinely posted "Styopsian" signs at strategic intersections throughout the country -- not to stop traffic, but to stop unnecessary "mind movement."
Their effort resonated with the citizenry and eventually led to the widespread appearance of what modern day sociologists now refer to as "stop signs" -- in urban centers, small villages, cattle crossings, universities, and even cornfields.
One of the most curious facts I've unearthed in my research is this: For the past 2,000 years, Stop Signs, regardless of the country of origin, have always been octagonal.
Apparently, each side of this iconic 8-sided, cross-cultural symbol of hoped-for stillness, has been imbued with a secret teaching of great import:
1. Slow down
2. Pay attention
3. Look around
4. Pause
5. Look within
6. Breathe deeply
7. Appreciate
8. Move consciously
And so... the next time you see a Stop Sign, you may want to remember that you are in the act of receiving a very ancient message -- one that preceded Starbucks, Twitter, YouTube, MTV, and email by thousands of years.
Next week... the YIELD SIGN.
ED NOTE: It has recently come to my attention that some readers of this blog have questioned my research methods and the veracity of my findings. A quick Google search of "Dr. Ellison Burke" and the "Global Institute for Cross-Cultural Studies," they claim, reveals not a single link. Frankly, I am baffled by their assertions and have assigned five of my brightest research assistants to get to the bottom of this immediately. In the meantime, you may want to contemplate the semi-ancient words of modern day social scientists, Simon and Garfunkel:
"Slow down, you're moving too fast. Ya gotta make the morning last..."
PS: Here's what helps me slow down, pay attention, look around, pause, look within, breathe deeply, appreciate, and move consciously.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:12 AM | Comments (1)
December 15, 2009Invent, Iterate, Improve, and Innovate
What you can learn about innovation from the long and semi-glorious history of the zipper.
The X Factor
Innovate, Schminnovate
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:34 PM | Comments (0)
December 10, 2009PRODIGY
Mozart was composing and performing for royalty at 4. Ethan Bortnick, from Hollywood, Florida, is not far behind. Yes, practice makes perfect, but then there are those who are prodigies.
And how about this 11 year old?
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 05:33 PM | Comments (0)
December 09, 200950 Ways to Foster a Culture of Innovation
As your organization gears up for 2010, here are 50 ways to ensure that it's culture is conducive to innovation. Commit to a few of these today and begin to work your magic.
1. Remember that innovation requires no fixed rules or templates -- only guiding principles. Creating a more innovative culture is an organic and creative act.
2. Wherever you can, whenever you can, always drive fear out of the workplace. Fear is "Public Enemy #1" of an innovative culture.
3. Have more fun. If you're not having fun (or at least enjoying the process) something is off.
4. Always question authority, especially the authority of your own longstanding beliefs.
5. Make new mistakes.
6. As far as the future is concerned, don't speculate on what might happen, but imagine what you can make happen.
7. Increase the visual stimuli of your organization's physical space. Replace gray and white walls with color. Add inspiring photos and art, especially visuals that inspire people to think differently. Reconfigure space whenever possible.
8. Help people broaden their perspective by creating diverse teams and rotating employees into new projects -- especially ones they are fascinated by.
9. Ask questions about everything. After asking questions, ask different questions. After asking different questions, ask them in a different way.
10. Ensure a high level of personal freedom and trust. Provide more time for people to pursue new ideas and innovations.
11. Encourage everyone to communicate. Provide user-friendly systems to make this happen.
12. Instead of seeing creativity training as a way to pour knowledge into people's heads, see it as a way to grind new glasses for people so they can see the world in a different way.
13. Learn to tolerate ambiguity and cope with soft data. It is impossible to get all the facts about anything. "Not everything that counts can be counted. Not everything that can be counted counts," said Einstein.
14. Embrace and celebrate failure. 50 to 70 per cent of all new product innovations fail at even the most successful companies. The main difference between companies who succeed at innovation and those who don't isn't their rate of success -- it's the fact that successful companies have a LOT of ideas, pilots, and product innovations in the pipeline.
15. Notice innovation efforts. Nurture them wherever they crop up. Reward them.
16. When you're promoting innovation in-house, always promote the benefits of a new idea or project, not the features.
17. Don't focus so much on taking risks, per se, but on taking the risks OUT of big and bold ideas.
18. Encourage people to get out of their offices and silos. Encourage people to meet informally, one-on-one, and in small groups.
19. Think long term. Since the average successful "spin-off" takes about 7.5 years, the commitment to innovation initiatives need to be well beyond "next quarter."
20. Create a portfolio of opportunities: short-term, long-term, incremental, and discontinuous. Just like an investment portfolio, balance is critical.
21. Involve as many people as you can in the development of your innovation initiative so you get upfront buy-in. This is the "go-slow now to go-fast later" approach. (The opposite approach of having a few people go off to a desert island and come back with their concept is almost always doomed to failure).
22. Improve the way brainstorming sessions and meetings are facilitated in your organization. Create higher standards and practices.
23. Make sure people are working on the right issues. Identify specific business challenges to focus on. Be able to frame these issues as questions that start with the words, "How can we?"
24. Communicate, communicate, communicate, communicate, communicate and then communicate again. Deliver each important message at least six times.
25. Select and install idea management software for your intranet. (Or, if you've got an intranet and certain directories available to everyone, set up your own idea depository/database and make it as interactive as you want).
26. Don't focus on growth. Growth is a product of successful innovation. Focus on the process of becoming adept at taking ideas from the generation stage to the marketplace.
27. Make customers your innovation partners, while realizing that customers are often limited to incremental innovations, not breakthrough ones.
28. Understand that the best innovations are initiated by individuals acting on their own at the periphery of your organization. Don't make your innovation processes so rigid that they get in the way of informal and spontaneous innovation efforts. Build flexibility into your design. Think "self-organizing" innovation, not "command and control" innovation.
29. Find new ways to capture learnings throughout your organization and new ways to share these learnings with everyone. Use real-life stories to transfer the learnings.
30. Stimulate interaction between segments of the company that traditionally don't connect or collaborate with each other.
31. Develop a process of trying out new concepts quickly and on the cheap. Learn quickly what's working and what's not.
32. Avoid analysis paralysis. Chaotic action is preferable to orderly inaction.
33. Before reaching closure on any course of action, seek alternatives. Make it a discipline to seek the idea after the "best" idea emerges.
34. Know that attacking costs as a root problem solves nothing. Unreasonable costs are almost always a sign of more profound problems (e.g. inefficient structures, processes or training).
35. A great source of new ideas are people that are new to the company. Get new hires together and tap their brainpower and imagination.
36. Get customer feedback before committing resources to a product's development.
37. Seek diversity of viewpoints. Get people together across functions. A diversity of views sparks more than conflict -- it sparks innovation.
38. Invite outside partners early on when exploring new opportunities. Find ways for your company to partner with others and actively share ideas, technologies, and other capabilities.
39. Avoid extreme time pressures.
40. Don't make the center of your efforts to help people be more creative a physical "creativity center." Fold your innovation resources into your business units.
41. Don't make innovation the responsibility of a few. Make innovation the responsibility of each and every employee with performance goals for each and every functional area.
42. Give your people specific, compelling, and measurable innovation goals.
43. Try to get as much buy-in and support from senior leadership as you can while realizing that true change NEVER starts at the top. How often does the revolution start with the King?
44. Realize that "resource allocation" is the last bastion of Soviet-style central planning. Think of new innovation opportunities as "resource attractors."
45. Pay particular attention to alignment. Ensure that the interests and actions of all employees are directed toward key company goals, so that any employee will recognize and respond positively to a potentially useful idea.
46. Reward collective, not only individual successes, but also maintain clear individual accountabilities and keep innovation heroes visible.
47. Do your best to ensure that linear processes give way to networks of collaboration.
48. Remove whatever organizational obstacles are in the way of people communicating bold, new ideas to top management.
49. Systematize. Find problems (not only with products, but with processes, customer service, and business models) and solve them.
50. Drive authority downwards. Make decisions quickly at the lowest level possible.
NOTE: This list co-authored with Val Vadeboncoeur
Thanks to Michael Plishka, of ZenStorming, for his refinement of #25.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 06:31 PM | Comments (13)
December 05, 2009You Are Officially Entitled
When I co-founded Idea Champions in 1986, I had two business cards made. One said "President." The other said "Archduke." Whenever I gave clients a choice, they always wanted the Archduke card.
In time, I gave all the Archduke cards away and never re-ordered them -- in a pitiful attempt, I think, to seem more professional.
Fortunately, everything comes full circle. Last night, while enjoying a wonderful concert in my hometown of Woodstock, my next title was suddenly revealed.
Director of Public Elations (and, no, I did not forget the "R".)
In a flash, not only did I get an insight into what my focus will be for the next few years, I also discovered an entirely new field.
Cirque du Soleil is a perfect example.
Gracefully walking the high wire of the Experience Economy, they know their success is intimately connected to their ability to elate the public -- to uplift, inspire, and activate joy.
Southwest Airlines also understands this.
Theirs is a corporate culture founded on delight. Even Starbucks and Barnes & Noble have gotten into the act. Both of them know their product needs to be more than coffee and books, but a feeling -- a sense of well-being, ease, and community.
In a word, elation.
And so, I decided to share my title-changing revelation with my colleagues -- the "Senior Consultant," the "Webmaster," the "Chief Technology Officer," and the "Director of Operations."
I asked them to tell me what new titles they'd like. Here's what they told me:
Chief Enlightenment Officer
Princess of Possibility
Head of Lettuce
Webmaster of My Domain
Director of Whatever Needs Directing
Duke of URL
Head of Steam
How about YOU?
What new title do YOU want to see on your next business card? What name more creatively describes what you really do at work?
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 02:30 AM | Comments (1)
December 03, 2009Frequently Asked Questions
OK.
Confession time.
I've never liked FAQs.
They always seemed so predictable.
So boring.
So customer-servicey.
That's why I wrote this.
Makes FAQs more fun to read.
(Don't bail out too soon.
It builds).
Well, I guess you'll be the judge of that, eh?
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 03:15 AM | Comments (0)
December 02, 2009Even Michelangelo's David Started Out as a Block
Stuck? Confused? Blocked?
Get over it by printing out this posting, filling in the blanks, and then reading your story aloud. Works wonders! Better than therapy! Cheaper than Prozac!
"Boy, am I blocked! I haven't felt this bad since ___________. I've tried __________________ and ____________________, but nothing seems to work. It's almost laughable the way I'm spending all my time ___________________.
I feel so frustrated I could _________________________.
I hate it when _____________________________. It makes me feel like a ________________ without a ____________.
I'm so tired of ___________________________. Just yesterday, I felt so ___________________ I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
But now... it feels like the tunnel is filled with ___________________ and the light has turned to ___________________.
Uh oh! What if I stay stuck like this forever?
I can see the writing on my tombstone now: '__________________________ _______________________.' What an epitaph! That would really make me feel like a _________________________________________.
I wish there was someone I could blame besides myself!
Hmmm... Maybe ________________ would make a good person to dump on. If he/she was here with me now, I'd _________________________________________.
How did I get into this situation anyhow? I never really intended to _____________________________________________.
All I wanted was ____________________________.
Why does it have to be so unbelievably difficult? If only I could stop feeling so ________________________________.
Hey! Just last week I got tons of great ideas about my project -- ideas like ____________________ and ____________________ and ______________________.
Any one of those brainstorms could easily be the key. And even if they weren't, I could always ________________________________________.
I could even call ________________ and _______________. They're tuned into my project! Maybe they'd have a clue about how to proceed.
Actually, this is all pretty funny.
I seem to love focusing on my problems instead of possible solutions. Talk about creative! I must have ________ ways to avoid taking the next step.
Which reminds me.... I guess the next thing I need to do is ___________________________. And after that I'll _____________________.
Isn't it fascinating how this stuff works? In a little while, I'll probably look back at this crazy time and realize _____________________
_______________________.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:30 AM | Comments (0)
